Aquatint

Object | Accession Number: 1989.275.11

Overview

Brief Narrative: Aquatint created for John Hersey's The Wall.
Artwork Title: The Erklönig
Series Title: 11 in a series of 12
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ruth Sharp
Signature: Penciled below image "William Sharp"; verso of mat, blue inked "William Sharp"
Contributor: Artist: William Sharp
Biography: Leon Schleifer was born in 1900 in Germany. He served in the German army at the end of World War I (1914-1918). He became a political cartoonist and his work was published in the anti-Nazi press. He also specialized in courtroom trial sketches. After the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, Schliefer emigrated to the United States. He changed his name to William Sharp and continued his career as an editorial cartoonist and illustrator. His work was published in the New York Times, Life Magazine, and other publications. He died in 1961, age sixty-one years.

Classification: Art
Category: Prints
Object Type: Aquatint (lcsh)
Physical Description: Image of a man walking down the middle of the street playing a concertina, his ear pressed to the instrument; the man is appears to be almost as tall as the buildings behind him; buildings are burning in the background
Dimensions: overall: Height: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) | Width: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm)
pictorial area: Height: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) | Width: 4.750 inches (12.065 cm)
Materials: overall : paper, ink, adhesive, cardboard
Inscription: Penciled below image "'The Erlkönig' (The Wall)"; penciled in lower right corner "XVII"; verso of mat, upper right corner, typed paper label "524"

Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: The aquatint was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by Ruth Sharp, the wife of William Sharp.